Seven non-profits awarded Street Cleaning Grants

Vancouver City Council has approved funding for seven local non-profit organizations as part of the City’s annual Street Cleaning Grant Program.

For over 20 years, the Street Cleaning Grant Program has provided funding to non-profit organizations for micro cleaning services, which play a major role in keeping Vancouver clean by supplementing work done by City crews, and provide meaningful, low-barrier job opportunities for people who need them the most.

“Local non-profits that provide micro cleaning services play an important role in keeping Vancouver’s lanes and streets clean. We are happy to support these agencies as we continue to prioritize public realm cleanliness and socially inclusive waste diversion initiatives” says Lon LaClaire, General Manager of Engineering.

Micro cleaning involves the daily collection of litter and needles on foot using brooms, shovels, and wheeled garbage carts. The work supplements the street cleaning work done by City crews, which is focused on emptying receptacles and collecting litter using sweepers, flushers, and other vehicles.

Grant recipients

The 2020 program will award $1,840,000 in grants to seven local non-profit organizations:

The grants also support socially inclusive waste diversion initiatives, local BIA cleaning programs, and strategies aimed at addressing challenges related to rat populations in the City.

2019 grant results

In 2019, grant funding resulted in:

Micro-cleaning in an area covering 7 square kilometres and 22 BIAs

65,100 low-threshold employment hours

19,000 bags of litter collected

111,000 needles collected from streets and lanes

While the City and our dedicated partners continue to work to keep our streets clean, residents can do their part by reducing waste, disposing of their garbage responsibly, and by participating in the City's year-round community-based litter cleanup program, Neighbourhood Cleanup Party.